February 16/11 9:49 am - Tour of Oman: Stage 2

Posted by Editoress on 02/16/11

Results from the second stage of the Tour of Oman in Oman.

HTC-Highroad's Matt Goss has claimed his sixth win of the season after clinching the bunch sprint from a front group of around 40 riders in stage two of the Tour of Oman.After triumphs in the Jayco Bay Classics series, the Cancer Council Classic and the opening stage of the Tour Down Under in Australia, Goss's latest victory in the Middle East also enables the young sprinter to move into the overall lead."The last kilometre was quite tough there, slightly uphill and a little bit harder than I was expecting," Goss said, "but I managed to hold on fine, it suited me well, having to accelerate out of the last corner.

"I tried to stay on the first five or ten wheels on the climb close to the finish today, it split about half-way up, and it split again over the top, but then it all came back together a little bit."We had five guys in the front group, they looked after me til the last kilometre, then [Hayden] Roulston did a turn on the front to keep the speed high and I sat in a little way further behind and waited for my moment.

"It's great for the team, we came here wanting to get at least a stage win, now we can concentrate on seeing what we can do for the overall."On Wednesday's flat stage, Goss says that HTC-Highroad will be looking for another bunch sprint win, "either with me or with Mark Cavendish. We'll wait and see. But it's nice to have the jersey for now.""It's been a great start to the season for me, but I hope to keep it going right to the end of the year."